DIY case PSU position?

DanielM

What's an ITX?
Original poster
Jun 28, 2018
1
0
Hi, I'm thinking about moving my build from its current home in an FD Focus G Mini to a smaller enclosure. The goal is to do so without replacing any hardware, so it has to take an mATX board, full ATX PSU and a 270mm card. I narrowed my options to a Silverstone SG09/SG10 but they are nowhere to be found for sale where I live.

So I started thinking about chopping up an old case I have lying around to a shape similar to the SG10, however I couldn't help but to think if there's a more space efficient layout. I got a (probably stupid) idea to mount the PSU similarly to the Cerberus case but in an orientation so the fan faces the back. That way the CPU cooler wouldn't be blocked, however warm air from the PSU would escape right on top of the GPU. I'm not sure how much of an issue that is but I think this could be solved by making a sort of a channel for the air to escape out the back of the case. If it was mounted the other way around (with the power plug and air exhaust facing up) then I can't think of a convenient way to route the cables inside the case, nor do I want a power cord sticking out from the top.

My main concern is airflow, I'm thinking two 120mm fans at the front for intake and an exhaust at the top would be enough but I'm no expert, so I'm looking for advice here. If I could make it work, the case could have more or less the same volume as the Cerberus with a more conveniently mounted PSU, allowing for use of a larger CPU cooler, which sounds exciting to me.

Thanks for any advice and I also apologize if this is something stupid and/or has been already discussed, I really tried searching first but couldn't find anything.